Bev’s Quilt of Hope, as it is now known, began its long journey back in July 2008 shortly after Beverley Miller, the founder of online magazine and crafts marketplace “The Chocolate Crow Trader” lost her long battle with cancer. Although the majority of the girls involved with this quilt never met the loving, gutsy, endearing, patient and determined woman who became a big part of their lives through The Chocolate Crow Trader, their lives where much richer for having had Beverley Miller pass through them. There has been a wide range of artisans working on this project, including primitive folk artists, embroiderers and quilters. The Blocks received for the quilt were as varied as the crafts showcased on The Chocolate Crow Trader. There were traditional pieced quilt blocks, stitchery's, applique's (both hand & machine), there was lace, calico, cottonsbuttons, embellishments but most of all there was love and lots of it and as you can see all of the blocks fitted together as though the quilt designed itself even though the artisans who made them came from all corners of Australia. October Long Weekend 2008 saw the quilt blocks come together with hundreds of country toned scrappy squares and hand appliqued sashings. The individual blocks had become a quilt top which was packed up together with its backing, donated by Country Hart Designs and sent off to Bev’s home state of Tasmania where it was lovingly quilted by Leonie and Deidre of The Quilted Crow, who also donated the wadding. The Quilt of Hope then made another trip across Bass Strait back to be bound and finished off. Once it was bound and finished, a photograph of the completed quilt was sent to all the contributors before it set off on another adventure, this time to Australian Country Threads!
Bev’s Quilt of Hope is to be auctioned on The Chocolate Crow Trader – the auction will on May 15th to celebrate the 5th birthday edition of the Chocolate Crow Trader and will run until July 14th. The highest bid for the day will be taken at 6pm and is being updated daily over the duration of the auction. The winner of the auction will be announced in the Xmas in July edition of The Chocolate Crow Trader, which will be updated on July 15th. The aim of Bev’s Quilt of Hope is to raise as much as possible to go to The Cancer Council of Australia in memory of Bev Miller (who did so much for the Australian Craft World) so they can continue their great work.
The contributors to Bev’s Quilt of Hope were Suzanne Caruso, Emily Churchman, Treann Clark, Meg Cook, Julie Duncan, Pam Eyre, Katherine Falco, Margie Finnerty, Julie Gibbs, Robyn Larkham, Jackie Proctor, Michelle Short, Jodie Storm, Kim Warren , Leonie & Diedre of The Quilted Crow, Chris Byron and Robyn Welsh. As of the 15th of May you will be able to submit bids for the quilt throught eh TCCT website, I will put a link up on my blog when the quilt is up!
Many thanks to Robyn of Country Hart for letting me use her already written spiel!! I did have the pleasure of meeting Bev a few times, and she was a very warm lady who had such a passion for Australian crafters like you wouldn't believe!!! She ran her own business Saltbox Mercantile with the very lovely Michelle for yearrrrs and was always 2 steps ahead of the game. Anything she could do to help encourage and support other craftisans had only to be mentioned and it was done.....Bev kept her cancer battle very private.....so many of us either did not know, or did not know how bad it was for Bev......and yet she continued at the helm of TCCT until the very end. She is very much missed. Please help us raise some much needed funds for the Cancer Council, every dollar raised is a step closer to finding a cure for this dreaful disease!!!!
